The West is supposed to punish hesitation. On Monday night, Nikola Jokić turned it into his personal stage.
Down 16 with eight minutes left, staring at a loss they could not afford in a jammed Western race, Denver didn’t just rally. It detonated.
Jokić’s late-game masterpiece
Nuggets 137, Blazers 132 (OT). The box score screams it, but still undersells it: Jokić finished with 35 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 5 steals, authoring yet another absurd line in a season full of them. Denver trailed 115-99 with under eight minutes to go. From there, Jokić flipped the game on its head, driving a 26-10 closing burst to steal overtime from a Portland team that had done almost everything right.
Once the extra five minutes arrived, the familiar pairing took control. Jokić and Jamal Murray didn’t just manage the moment, they owned it.
First came Jokić’s vision. He drew the defense and kicked to Aaron Gordon for a go-ahead 3, the kind of shot that instantly changes the temperature in the arena. Then Murray went hunting, ripping off seven straight points to put daylight between Denver and a stunned Blazers side. When Portland threatened one last time, Jokić walked into the lane and dropped in a dagger layup with 1:26 to play.
Ballgame. Nine straight wins. Third place in the West.
The numbers behind it are historic. This is Jokić’s second career game with at least 35 points, 10 boards, 10 assists and 5 steals – no one else has more than one since steals became an official stat in 1973-74. He now leads the league with 33 triple-doubles this season, six of them coming during this 9-0 surge. That six-game burst alone would tie him for the fifth-most triple-doubles by any player all year.
But it isn’t empty volume. He’s deciding outcomes.
Denver has climbed from 6th to 3rd in the West during this streak, with Jokić repeatedly closing games: a Saturday game-winner against the Spurs, then another late takeover to bury Portland. He either scored or assisted on 17 of Denver’s final 24 points in regulation to force OT, then he and Murray outscored the Blazers by themselves in the extra period.
The supporting cast delivered when it had to. Murray ended with 20 points and 7 assists, steadying the offense when Portland tried to trap Jokić. Gordon added 23 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, hitting a game-tying jumper and that go-ahead bucket in the final minute of the fourth.
It goes down as Denver’s largest fourth-quarter comeback of the season, and it comes with a tangible reward: the Nuggets leapfrog the Lakers into 3rd, a spot they hadn’t seen since Feb. 22. With home-court leverage on the line, Jokić is not just padding an MVP résumé; he’s reshaping the bracket.
Spurs hit 60 — and keep chasing OKC
Two years ago, the Spurs were a 60-loss curiosity, a rebuilding project wrapped around a generational rookie. Now they’re a 60-win machine with their eyes on the top of the conference.
Spurs 115, 76ers 102, and the headline number is blunt: San Antonio moves to 60-19, its first 60-win campaign since 2016-17 and its seventh since 2000-01 — more than any other franchise in that span.
The night didn’t unfold according to script. Victor Wembanyama dominated the first half with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks, then left with a rib contusion. The air could have gone out of the building. Instead, the rest of the roster simply took the controls.
Stephon Castle turned in the kind of performance that underlines why this Spurs rise isn’t a one-man show. The rookie guard posted 19 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, orchestrating the offense and attacking the glass as San Antonio outlasted a huge night from Joel Embiid, who powered the Sixers with 34 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks.
The depth was unmistakable. Eleven Spurs scored; six reached double figures. That’s been the story of their surge. Since Feb. 1, San Antonio is a blistering 28-3, ranking second in defensive rating and first in both offensive rating and net rating. Wembanyama has been the centerpiece — averaging 25.6 points, 11.9 rebounds and 3.6 blocks over that span — but Castle’s emergence has given them a second engine, with 17 points and 7.8 assists per game across the run, supported by six other double-figure scorers.
This is classic Spurs basketball, updated for a new era: layers of contributors, ruthless efficiency, and a star who bends the sport.
The stakes keep rising. At 60-19, San Antonio sits 2.5 games behind Oklahoma City, the only other 60-win team, in the race for the West’s top seed. The margin is thin, the schedule short. Every possession now carries weight.
Denver is charging from below, San Antonio is sprinting toward the summit, and the defending champs in OKC aren’t budging. The West promised chaos in April. It’s delivering — with Jokić and Wembanyama at the heart of it.
